Khan Krum of Bulgaria

Khan Krum of Bulgaria (750-814) was the Khan of the First Bulgarian Empire from 803 to 814, succeeding Khan Kardam of Bulgaria and preceding Khan Omurtag of Bulgaria.

Biography
Krum was born in 750, and was the son of Khan Toktu of Bulgaria. Krum, a Bolghar of the House of Dulo, was an adherent of Tengrism. Krum succeeded Khan Kardam of Bulgaria as Khan in 803, and in 805 he destroyed the Avar Khaganate, establishing a border with the Frankish Empire. Krum engaged in a policy of territorial expansion against the Byzantine Empire, and on 26 July 811 he destroyed a Byzantine invading army at the Battle of Pliska, killing Emperor Nicephorus I of Byzantium and making his skull into a drinking cup; his son Stauracius of Byzantium was mortally wounded and died in 812 after being emperor for a few months. He invaded Thrace in 812 during Michael I of Byzantium's rule, although in 813 he was repelled by Byzantine forces. However, he crushed the Byzantines again at the Battle of Versinikia and Emperor Michael retired to become a monk, forced to abdicate. He was the third Byzantine emperor undone by Khan Krum in as many years. The new emperor Leo V of Byzantium ambushed Krum as he came to a meeting with him, and Krum was wounded. Krum ravaged the lands around Constantinople, captured Adrianople, and took several people to the other side of the Danube. Despite the approach of winter, he led 30,000 troops into Thrace and seized Arkadioupolis and took 50,000 slaves, and he rebuilt Pliska with Byzantine artisans. In winter he took a siege park of 5,000 carts to Constantinople with a large army and was planning to assault the city when he died at the age of 64.